Chapter 24

Thud.

Gennadi slammed his beer mug down onto the table.

The table shook, beer sloshed over the rim, and the liquid soaked his hand.

For a brief moment, a razor-sharp tension settled between the two men.

The other Wildmen in the tavern began whispering among themselves, pretending not to stare while secretly watching the pair.

For a moment, Tocqueville blinked in surprise at Gennadi’s genuinely irritated reaction.

Then his eyes lit up.

‘…Oh. This is interesting.’

Without saying a word, Tocqueville carefully studied the werewolf sitting beside him.

Those sharpened yellow eyes, tense as if they had been honed into blades.

After more than five hundred years of living alongside humans, mages, and Wildmen, he had developed an instinct.

And that instinct whispered to him.

‘Gennadi… actually cares quite a bit about that mage officer, doesn’t he?’

For a vampire, it was an unexpected discovery.

That war-obsessed werewolf actually valued a human officer.

And not just any human—a mage.

The realization stirred both curiosity and a faint bitterness.

Over the centuries, he had lived as both a vampire and one of Esta’s slaves, encountering countless mages.

Mages obsessed with promotion.

Mages who pretended otherwise while being consumed by lust and greed.

But the worst of them all…

Were those born into prestigious families, overflowing with a sense of duty.

‘I wonder what kind of strange mage he ended up attached to.’

Tocqueville decided not to push his luck any further.

‘I’ll remember this for later. That’s enough for today. If I keep digging, he might actually beat me up.’

He willingly backed off and immediately changed the subject.

“Before dinner, I watched a movie in the Old City called Lightning and Blood.”

“So did I.”

“Hm?”

“I watched it today too. In the New City, though.”

‘Hm…?’

Another question mark flashed through Tocqueville’s mind.

Today just kept getting more surprising.

That battle-crazed werewolf actually watched a movie?

And a sentimental love triangle at that?

It certainly wasn’t ordinary, but Tocqueville pretended not to find it strange.

“It’s the only movie showing in town. I heard there was a vampire like me in it, so I figured I’d give it a watch.”

“Yeah, there was a vampire.”

“Right?”

“A handsome one. Like you.”

“What are you talking about?! How do I look anything like that idiot with the rat-chewed haircut?!”

“You both keep surviving no matter how many times someone tries to kill you. That’s the resemblance.”

“Seriously? That’s no way to talk to your military senior.”

“Didn’t you call yourself my friend?”

‘Why is this damn werewolf so good at talking back?’

For a brief moment, Tocqueville was genuinely annoyed.

But he quickly regained his composure.

He needed to get to the real point.

The main topic.

“Ahem. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. The scenes where the protagonist used magic looked surprisingly convincing. I doubt they used a real mage as an actor, but it looked completely authentic.”

“What are you trying to say?”

Vilev lowered his mug from his lips and looked at Tocqueville with an expression that plainly said, Now what?

Good.

Time to get to the point.

Tocqueville leaned forward and whispered,

“The director supposedly used real electricity.”

“…”

“The day is coming when anyone can become a mage. Don’t you think it’s time to get in on the trend?”

“…For fuck’s sake.”

Gennadi let out a long, weary sigh that sounded deep enough to make the ground cave in.

‘Here we go again.’

This was painfully familiar.

A stream of vulgar curses rose from the pit of his stomach.

Whether Gennadi’s glare grew more murderous or not, Tocqueville continued undeterred.

“So there’s this company called Kunetz that owns the patents for electric-powered devices. They’re incredibly promising. You know how advanced the Kunetz Federation’s technology is. They’re making machines that let anyone generate and use electricity without magic. They even used their technology in Lightning and Blood.”

“I’m not buying.”

Gennadi let out another long, cavernous groan.

“I don’t even know what you’re selling, but I’m not buying.”

“Would you at least hear me out first?!”

“You’ve lived for over five hundred years and the only thing you’ve accumulated is debt. Why would I listen to your investment advice?”

“This time is different! I’ll admit I made some bad calls over the last five hundred years and missed a lot of opportunities. But this one is the real deal.”

“You invested in that so-called elixir of immortality and got scammed. That wasn’t a bad judgment call. You were just stupid.”

“That self-proclaimed Paracelsus deliberately conned me! If you’d heard him talk, you’d have believed him too.”

“…”

Gennadi fell silent.

He wasn’t even angry anymore.

Ruaz Tocqueville.

A vampire who had lived for over five centuries and served in Esta’s vampire special forces, Silver Fang.

Calling him a close friend wasn’t exactly accurate—it was mostly one-sided on Tocqueville’s part—but Gennadi generally considered him an ally.

There was, however, one thing about Ruaz that Gennadi absolutely couldn’t stand.

Moments like this.

Whenever he started shouting about the next once-in-a-lifetime investment opportunity.

He was, without question, the worst investor in history.

No…

Calling what he did “investing” was an insult to the word.

He was the worst gambler imaginable.

Every venture Ruaz touched turned out to be either a bubble or a scam.

Like a moth drawn to a flame, he was endlessly captivated by human greed.

And every single time…

He ended up broke.

Without fail.

When Gennadi had first met him, Ruaz had already been in exactly that state.

Actually, “broke” didn’t even begin to describe it.

He’d been completely ruined, body and soul, after being swindled.

Apparently he’d spent decades running from debt collectors.

Over the next ten years, Gennadi had rescued him from creditors more times than he could count.

Honestly, it was a miracle the man had survived before they met.

In any case, there was a very practical financial reason Ruaz Tocqueville still hadn’t retired after more than five hundred years and was still doing dangerous special forces work.

While the other vampire veterans had all gone on to live comfortable second lives, Ruaz remained trapped in the mire that was Silver Fang, getting tossed around one mission after another.

Gennadi found him pathetic.

And at the same time…

A little depressing.

As a fellow Wildman, he couldn’t dismiss him completely because, on some level, he understood.

‘What an idiot.’

For some reason, Tocqueville absolutely refused to drink human blood.

He barely sustained himself on animal blood, but it did nothing to satisfy his burning craving for human blood, leaving him in a constant state of quiet madness.

If anything, Gennadi thought it was fortunate that the vampire had become addicted to gambling instead.

Of course, Gennadi had no reason to sympathize with his circumstances.

Perhaps sensing the cold look the werewolf gave him, Tocqueville awkwardly muttered,

“Gennadi, my friend. Don’t be so heartless. If you were in my shoes, you’d have done the same.”

“…”

Gennadi stared at the vampire in silence.

His gaze carried a string of curses that needed no words.

Feeling it, Tocqueville lowered his head.

Then, in a noticeably deflated voice, he tried to justify himself.

“Living forever is like holding an endless supply of dice in a gambling hall. You can’t help but keep rolling… until you finally get the perfect number.”

“You’ll get beaten to death by debt collectors before that happens.”

“Well, I’m still alive, aren’t I?”

“So you dragged me all the way here just to tell me this?”

The irritation he thought had subsided welled up again.

He hadn’t left the hotel just to waste time like this.

Sure, he’d wanted a change of pace.

But instead of improving his mood, this conversation had only dragged it down.

There were few things more depressing than watching a friend trapped in the military because they were drowning in debt.

Just as he lifted his beer for one last drink—

A chilling sensation suddenly brushed against the depths of his chest.

Gennadi’s pupils narrowed.

‘Aethlyn.’

Aethlyn was calling him.

He didn’t stop to wonder why he thought that.

He didn’t question how Aethlyn had supposedly called out to him.

Acting purely on instinct, he shot to his feet and headed for the exit.

“Hey, Gennadi! What the hell? Did something happen?”

He paid no attention to Tocqueville shouting after him.

Nor did he care about the unfinished beer he’d left behind.

Gennadi sprinted toward the hotel.

A terrible feeling…

An overwhelming sense of dread gripped his heart and twisted his stomach.

As he tore through the narrow streets at full speed, Gennadi thought only one thing.

He didn’t care why he was convinced Aethlyn was in danger.

He could figure that out later.

The real question was—

‘How do I neutralize the enemy?’

All he had with him were his pistol and his curved saber.

Depending on the opponent, that might be enough.

But if it wasn’t…

‘Then I’ll subdue them in my true form if I have to.’

His true form.

A terrifying black wolf.

The real body Gennadi hid beneath his human skin.

It was a card he only used in the worst possible situations.

But it was a card he always kept in his deck.

‘Because there’s no worse outcome than letting her die.’

As he neared the hotel, the faint scent of something burning reached his nose.

A heartbeat later, Aethlyn’s scent followed.

His vision nearly went red.

Rage boiled through every cell in his body.

‘I’m going to kill them.’

Without a moment’s hesitation, he charged straight into the heart of the commotion.